We didn’t have anyplace we had to be yesterday, so I made up from having to wake up early Thursday morning by sleeping in and then we just stayed in bed and snuggled for a while. Oh yes, that’s much better!

Once we finally did get up, we spent some time with our usual morning routine of checking and answering e-mail, reading our favorite blogs, and reading the news online to see who we’re at war with this week.

One interesting e-mail was from a couple who are new fulltime RVers, telling me that they are spending over $3,000 a month and asking if that was normal for fulltimers, and if not, for advice on how to cut costs. Gee, where to start.

I replied by telling them that the first place to save money was in camping costs. You don’t have to pull into a full hookup campground and shell out $30-$40 a night or more every night. Take advantage of the weekly rates many campgrounds offer, join Passport America, use the many free campgrounds located from coast to coast that are listed in our Guide to Free Campgrounds, seek out the low cost overnight parking opportunities listed in our Guide to Fairgrounds Camping and Guide to Casino Camping, consider a used campground membership, and join the Elks and Moose and you will slash your camping costs. The next step is to slow down! Fuel savings between 55 and 65 mph are significant, and once you get to your destination, stay a while. You don’t have to be on the move every day, or every week. It’s a huge country and you’ll never live long enough to see it all, so take the time to enjoy where you are before you go on down the road. Those are just a few of the ideas you’ll find in my book The Frugal RVer. Trust me, we know a lot of RVers who live very comfortably on much less than these folks are spending.

A little after 2 p.m. we drove over to cousin Beverly’s apartment and visited with her for a while, watching some episodes of the old Alfred Hitchcock Presents mystery series from the 1950s she had recorded for me. I always loved the television show as a kid and it was just as good as I remembered. I think I’ll look into ordering some DVDs of the series on Amazon. Hitchcock was a true master of the genre.

We’ve only got a few days left here in Tucson and if all goes well with my next appointment at the VA hospital on Monday, we’ll be heading out Tuesday for our old hometown of Show Low for a visit with my daughter and grandkids. If the doctors say we do have to hang around for a while, I hope it won’t be too long. It’s going to start getting really hot here before too long.

Thought For The Day – Reputations can be tarnished by others, but can only be destroyed by yourself.